Eating Disorders Blog

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

When people hear the phrase “eating disorder,” they typically think of anorexia or bulimia. But one that’s not-often talked about is Selective Eating Disorder, which causes the sufferer to severely restrict the types of food she’ll eat.

“According to the University College at London’s Institute of Child Health up to 20 percent of children below the age of five years are picky eaters and some of them grow up to be SED adults – restricting, avoiding, even fearing certain foods. Some psychologists say that SED is a combination eating disorder, phobia and addiction problem – but not a lot is known about it.” [Source: C Healthy (Canada)]

Duke University recently launched the first-ever public registry of picky eating, aimed at recording the habits of picky eaters for the sake of more extensive research. Julie Notto, program director for a Toronto eating disorder center – says picky eating and SED are unhealthy coping mechanisms that require treatment.